Cnoc na dTobar, a mountain on the Ring of Kerry is one of Ireland’s ancient sacred sites. To this very day pilgrims travel to this mountain to visit the holy well at its base, and to climb its slopes in contemplation.

Barb, a reader from Boston, recently returned from Ireland and on her trip she climbed to the top of this amazing mountain with camera in hand. The Kerry landscape did not disappoint, and I’m ever so grateful to her for sharing her photos with us today.

What Does The Name Mean?

The name literally means the hill of the well or wells.

Now, I’m not quite certain if the name refers to one or more wells. ‘Tobar’ is the Irish word for well. However, tobar is singular. However, if it was the hill of just one well it should be Cnoc an Tobar, and if there are multiple wells, it should be Cnoc na dTobair. An Irish language scholar will have to sort this one out for me. My rusty Irish is definitely not up to the task.

Anyway, there definitely is at least one holy well to be found at the base of the mountain. It’s dedicated to St. Fursa, who walked these mountains way back in the sixth century.

The well waters are known for their healing mineral properties, and locally are recommended for curing eye problems.

Where Is Cnoc na dTobar?

It lies a few miles from the town of Cahersiveen in the south west of County Kerry, often called the Skellig region on the Iveragh Peninsula.

The walk is aligned with the famous Skellig Rocks, which have become ever more famous after Luke Skywalker landed his space ship there.

The trail is well marked, and if agile and healthy, people of all ages can at least make it part of the way.

Your soul may be cleansed of all your sins as you huff and puff your way up to the top of the mountain, but it is the magnificent landscape on a clear day, that will make your soul sing.

With spectacular views of the Kerry mountains, Dingle Bay, and Valentia Island, the Kerry coastline spans out before you. On a good day you can even see as far as West Cork.

A Mountain with a Sacred Past:

Pagan pilgrims and medieval Christians flocked to this site for centuries.

In the days before St. Patrick brought Christianity to the Irish, the native Celts often assembled on this mountain to celebrate some of their seasonal feasts. Lughnasa, their harvest festival, was often marked on this very mountain. Here they would light fires, sing, dance and have a good old shindig when August came.

As the Celts adopted Christianity this mountain remained an important pilgrimage site. In 1885 Canon Brosnan, the parish priest of Cahersiveen, instructed fourteen crosses be built to mark the Stations of the Cross along the ancient trail on the mountain.

Croagh Patrick is the most famous of Ireland’s mountainous Pilgrim Paths, but Mount Brandon and Cnoc na dTobar in County Kerry were just as significant in days gone by.

Thanks for Sharing Your Photos:

Many thanks to Barb for giving me permission to publish her photos here. Many readers dream of taking a trip to Ireland, but some must be content to be armchair travelers. These photos will mean the world to those who love Ireland , but may never get there. Thanks so much for your generosity, Barb.

And, for all the armchair travelers out there, here’s a little video also featuring Barb’s photos.

Ireland is a spectacular subject for photographs. Mother Ireland can look amazing for professional and amateur photographers alike.

Many of you have journeyed to my homeland to personally witness the majesty of her scenery, and along your merry way, you’ve snapped some incredible shots of sites and sights found all around the Emerald Isle.

Today I’m delighted to introduce a new category on my blog – Photos of Ireland, highlighted in a video montage.

Here I’ll feature your photos of dear old Ireland, whether she is bathed in sunshine or shrouded in a cloak of soft mists and rain.

To start us off with our first presentation of reader photos, here is a short video created with lovely images from Barb in Boston who visited County Kerry, and John from Donegal who shares photos of Cork and Donegal.

I hope you enjoy this little video.

Barb’s photos of Cnoc na dTobar are spectacular.

Here’s a panaroma shot from the top of the mountain ….

View from Cnoc na dTobar in County Kerry – courtesly of Barb Boylan in Boston.

The Rose of Tralee Festival is in full swing in County Kerry, and good news from RTÉ. You can watch along online with RTÉ Player.

Dáithí Ó Sé returns to present the 58th Rose of Tralee live from the dome on the 21st and 22nd of August from 8pm (Irish time) and fans abroad won’t have to miss out as the 2017 Rose of Tralee will be available to watch for FREE, live and on-demand, from anywhere in the world with RTÉ Player.

Watch the nation’s favourite festival online on desktop or through the RTÉ Player iOS and Android apps live and on-demand.

While Rose of Tralee fans overseas prepare to watch the main event on RTÉ Player, spare a thought for those unfamiliar with the competition as Home and Away’s Matt Little (VJ Patterson) and Dan Ewing (Heath Braxton) discover some of the weird and wonderful Rose of Tralee moments over the years.

See Matt (VJ) ‘go bananas’ at Dáithí’s ‘dad dancing’ and get completely confused as Dáithí gives his Rose of Tralee welcome ‘as Gaeilge’.

‘Heath’ virtually gets himself into a sweat waiting for the Roses’ response to that marriage proposal

In the lead up to the main event, RTÉ Player has created a very special Rose of Tralee collection featuring some of the top moments from the festival throughout the years.

Reacquaint yourself with some of our favorite Roses in ‘Reeling in the Roses’ and indeed, our favorite Rose of Tralee presenters in ‘Reeling in the Presenters’.

Wherever you are in the world, spread the word to friends and family and join RTÉ Player for two fun filled evenings of chat, performance and the occasional surprise as Dáithí puts the 32 finalists representing centres in Ireland, Britain, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, mainland Europe and the Middle East through their paces in the hopes of winning the coveted title, Rose of Tralee.

The international festival will be streamed live over the two nights.

Here’s how to watch the Rose of Tralee live and on-demand worldwide with RTÉ Player:

Now that’s high praise indeed for one of the friendliest places on earth.

Killarney is a very special little corner of the world and this little town has so much to offer visitors. Perhaps, I shouldn’t refer to it as a “little” town anymore, since Killarney has grown and evolved into a premier tourist destination since the days I visited over twenty years ago.

But despite all the changes, it seems Killarney has retained its friendly, welcoming atmosphere, where the townsfolk take great pride in sharing their home with those who visit from all over the world.

Killarney is the gateway to the famous Ring of Kerry. Nestled beside the lakes and between the glorious mountains, the surrounding scenery is simply breathtaking.

There’s absolutely no shortage of activities for tourists in and around Killarney. There’s something to suit everyone.

From thrill seekers to leisurely appreciators of spectacular scenery, Killarney caters for all. Killarney National Park, Lakes and Mountains are breathtaking and are the perfect back drop for the adventurous types who enjoy boat trips, walking, hiking, horse riding, fishing,and cycling.

For those of us who may be a little more sedentary there’s plenty history and heritage to explore and what really appeals to me, is that Killarney offers plenty of family fun.

As a mother of four I appreciate destinations that cater for young ones, keeping them occupied and entertained, and off their electronic gadgets for as long as possible.

The good folk at The Dunloe Hotel created a wonderful infographic to outline all the fun family activities in Killarney. They graciously provided permission for me to share it with you here on my blog.

In the west of Ireland furrowed fields hug the coastline. Many a passer-by pays little to no attention to this ridged farmland, totally unaware these markings are the remnants of our ancestors’ toil.

Referred to as lazy beds, these scars on the Irish countryside are evidence of an abandoned system of potato cultivation that once supported generations of Irish people, before the devastation of the Great Irish Famine.

Fields of old lazy beds for growing potatoes, on the southern shore of Killary Harbor, County Galway.

“Lazy beds” is the term for these ridge and furrow patterns. The term was first used by the British as a derogatory term for this ancient system of agriculture utilized in Ireland and Scotland. The British bone of contention was that all the Irish ever did was grow potatoes in their lazy beds.

But truth be told, there was nothing lazy about the back-breaking slog of our forefathers, who worked tirelessly to create arable land in an area full of rocks covered with a thin layer of top soil or ancient peat bog.

Here’s how lazy beds worked. Farmers would carry seaweed, sand and crushed shells up from the shore and pile it in parallel ridges in their fields. Seed potatoes were planted on the high ridges, then covered with earth scooped up from the sides.

The seaweed and sand mixed into the clay of the ridges nourished the growing tubers, ensuring they had a high level of iodine. The channels between the ridges followed the slope of the hills or the land, acting as drainage ditches.

Over the years the ridges grew higher and the furrowed ditches deeper.

By using this method, poor land which might grow little else, supported flourishing potato crops and sustained millions of Irish people, until the arrival of the dreaded potato blight in 1845.

Despite not being used for many years, these lazy beds remain untouched in parts of Ireland. They have withstood the winds and rains over a century and a half, to mark these fields as memorials to their makers.

These ridged, hilly fields remind me of the lines from the poem, The Wayfarer, by Patrick Pearse.

“Or some green hill where shadows drifted by,

Some quiet hill where mountainy man hath sown

And soon would reap; near to the gate of Heaven;”

~ Excerpt from The Wayfarer, by Patrick Pearse.

And over a million “mountainy” men and their families perished during the years of the Great Hunger (1845 to 1850), and now reap on the far side of the “gate of Heaven,” which I know was opened wide during those dreadful years.

Many of these photographs are from the counties of Galway and Mayo in the west of Ireland.

The photo above shows the tiny island of Braadillaun, off the Connemara coast in County Galway. If you examine the closest side of the island, and the adjacent mainland field, the remains of furrowed lazy beds can be seen.

Every square inch of inhospitable and barren land was utilized to feed the growing Irish population, prior to the Great Famine.

Lazy beds or potato ridges at the Deserted Village of Slievemore on Achill Island, County Mayo

For anyone interested in seeing the remains of these lazy beds I recommend visiting The Deserted Village on Achill Island, County Mayo. Located on the southern slopes of Slievemore, this abandoned village stretches from west to east for over 1.5 kilometres.

Dating from about 1750, there originally were 137 houses in the village, clustered together in three settlements.

View of abandoned homes in The Deserted Village on Achill Island, County Mayo

The tradition of taking cattle and sheep to the hills for summer grazing is known as ‘booleying.’ The cabins were occupied during the summer months, but residents of nearby villages would return to their homes from the mountainside to pass the winter months. Slievemore Mountain on Achill Island is one of the last places in Europe where ‘booley’ houses were used.

The abandoned stone cottages of Achill Island, with their surrounding fields furrowed with potato ridges, are an excellent way for tourists to envisage what life was like in Ireland, many years ago.

Abandoned hamlet at Cumingeera, County Kerry, with evidence of lazy beds to the fore of the photo.

The Irish, became a ‘silent people’ after the anguish and heartbreak of the Great Hunger.

Perhaps these mute ridges now speak for our ancestors, reminders of who they were, and their endless struggle to survive.

Slán agus beannacht,

(Goodbye and blessings)

Irish American Mom

P.S. A big thank you to all the wonderful photographers who shared their work under a Creative Commons License, allowing me to use their images to illustrate this post. I truly appreciate your generosity.